Mysterious fire burns down Oscar Wilde-linked manor

Grade II-listed £3m property was used as a cannabis farm

- ALEXANDER BUTLER

Built more than 100 years ago for Oscar Wilde's theatre producer, grade II-listed grand country home The Court once stood proudly at the heart of Chorleywood in Hertfordshire. But the £3m eight-bedroom mansion was left a charred and smouldering ruin last Sunday morning after a mysterious fire ripped through it overnight.

Six fire engines rushed to the 3.5-acre estate at 12.13am, where 24 firefighters tackled towering flames with nearby pond water for around five hours. The tragedy was just the latest development in the “strange” and “sad” destruction of the house, residents of the well-to-do civil parish told The Independent.

Neighbour Phil Hayes, 57, said: “The fire came as a complete shock. It was about one o’clock in the morning when we saw the flames. It seems to be the last chapter in the building’s sad demise. It has fallen into disrepair over the years.”

The Court was built in 1911 for Sir George Alexander, an actor who produced Wilde’s world-renowned play, The Importance of Being Earnest. The Irish-born playwright wrote a 16-page letter to Sir George in 1894 trying to sell him the play for £150, which is worth around £25k today.